


Crash

by SciPhi (PeopleGoBoom)



Category: Terra Ignota - Ada Palmer
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabble, Pre-Canon, Suicide Attempt, nothing graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-21 16:52:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11948520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeopleGoBoom/pseuds/SciPhi
Summary: One of Cato's failed suicides.





	1. Chapter 1

Surely this time it is too much to stomach even for them. Surely this time they must realize what they're about to do is one step too far. There will be a proper argument, finally, and the twins will scream at each other from different sides of the room and of the argument, and the set-sets will be utterly confused by the very thought that what they are all doing could be wrong, and Ockham will be stubborn, of course, they always are, and Leslie will support Ockham, even now, and besides she's the one who... but Thisbe, no, nothing is ever too dark for Thisbe, somehow, but Cardie will surely… but Cardigan is the perfect utilitarian, they will always defend… and the twins can never agree on anything. So one twin is all he will have, as usual. There will be no argument. He will shout, and no one will listen.

Or maybe this time he'll head right for the aftermath. He is prepared for that this time, though. His ba'sibs knew his tricks well enough to stop him before, but Cato's been holding out on them with this one, after having been stopped one time too many. Time to drain the cup, like Socrates before him.


	2. Chapter 2

He wakes up to confusion, as if something has gone wrong, as if something hadn't happened the right way. Opening his eyes tells him immediately where he is – only hospital walls have this color: Almost sage green, translucent and uneven, proved to be the most calming color in the world. He wonders if that is still true – surely decades of associations with hospitals must have eroded its calming effect a lot. At least he is not feeling calm in the least, he is upset. Why is he so upset? His eyes falls on Leslie, dozing in a chair beside his bed. Oh, yes. This is why. They made him live again, the miserable murderers. And he had been so sure this time. A quick-working poison none of them knew about, or so he had thought, disguised as the liquid between the lenses in one of the antique microscopes. Did they know where it was? Did they know when he had taken it? How could they know? He was probably the best poisoner in the world – how could he have failed to poison himself? It was ridiculous, how many resources must they have thrown at him to know… but of course they can't afford for him to die. All the resources of the bash, and probably of their rulers as well, must be available for protecting him. And only then he realizes what he should have seen years ago: He is the most suicide proofed person in the world. There is no escape. There will be no mercy. He is just another life on their conscience, in his own way, and what's a life more?

**Author's Note:**

> I kept wondering why Cato could have so many failed suicide attempts – he's supposed to be a poison expert! But how could he possibly succeed? His bash knows their job, and he is valuable to them, and so he is probably the most suicide proofed person on the planet.


End file.
